Construction: Toralei's Shoes - TOTAL HOURS: (combined with others)

Web vs. Doll Differences noted: these were explained in an earlier post when I got the shoes in the mail!


First I took the laces out of the shoes. They would get in the way and also the laces needed to be red! I used low-tack masking tape to cover the areas I wanted to protect and then started doing layers of acrylic and silk screen paint over the platform. I was surprised it didn't take more to be honest.. Only four coats! The only issue I ran into was that the satin fabric covering the platform started to bubble in some areas but it isn't too noticeable. After  letting the paint dry completely, I put red shoe laces in. Then I took hot fix silver studs and melted them to the platform topline. I've only ever used this tool once to put two studs on a vinyl purse so I was worried it might react badly with the satin/paint combination but it all worked great!

 

 

Sometimes.. I realize that I can't DO EVERYTHING. That finishing the thing I fully envisioned to the extent and quality I wanted is not worth the physical pain I have been putting myself through or the possible health complications due to overextending myself. This is immensely frustrating. I'm high functioning and most of the time I do not display outward symptoms of how I am feeling, but I have a war going on inside my body. Putting all my energy into something that results in a product that I am extremely proud of and also that can be visually admired by others who appreciate all that has gone into it is sometimes enough to bypass the pain and crushing exhaustion I feel all the time.

The past few days have been very hard on me. I'm trying to navigate creating Toralei, an interactive textile project, re-submitting a stage for my MRP protocol, finishing half my MRP, analyzing data from my MRP research, and applying for two conferences my adviser wants me to present my findings at. Oh yes, and working two days a week and another day at an internship. By my calculations, I'm around 67 hours for this project alone.. And I still have to do all these things:
-wait for shoes to dry, melt studs to platform top (may need another paint coat before)
-cut, style wig, color streak portions
-sew ears into wig
-put F/X makeup on, costume, commute down to Ryerson and do photoshoot
-research readings
-write paper

I don't know how but I need to do the photoshoot tonight so I can start writing today. And I'll be suffering for it but what can I do? This class has been extremely difficult for me to absorb and I hope this project will truly show how hard I've been working to understanding cosplay and my own practices a little better.
A few decisions were made that will be reflected in posts on finished garments later. I am not making the coat. A classmate was amazing enough to donate a coat for me to use as I've already spent so much on this project but I just have no time to work on it. I don't think it is an intrinsic part of Toralei's outfit. It will also give me the opportunity to showcase the arm coverings I've done which is a very good exchange! Secondly, her red gloves are supposed to be leather and pretty glam rock with fingers missing and studs on them.. But I'm using what I could find for cheap which are knitted fingerless gloves. These two things and anything else I reduce will likely be done in the future when I have more time after this semester is done. I need to pull back and be smart about how I spend the next few hours. And rest my body to reduce some of the stress.

Construction: Toralei's Dress - TOTAL HOURS: (combined with others)

Web vs. Doll Differences noted:

Basically the Cartoon and Doll versions look pretty much the same when it comes to the color of red and the patterns of rough lines in white and black. The only difference I've seen is with the slit on the bottom of the dress. But that is a difference I've seen between images of the Cartoon version of her dress, sometimes it looks like she has a slit over each leg, sometimes only the left leg. 

 Sometimes it is cheaper to buy a garment to use the fabric from it than buy the fabric from a store. In this case, I found a cheap large dress that was also on sale made of a red jersey. It also was the right length and had a neckline that would work for Toralei's dress. I took the sleeves and tags off and then separated the side seams. The dress was then ready to be screened with the pattern. 

I used butcher's paper to create the pattern on the dress. The lines aren't just lines, they are wavy and rough and each needed to be measured and cut by hand. This took an extremely long time. Once I had enough strips cut out, I ironed them down to the dress, periodically checking the spacing and angle of lines to that of the doll and cartoon. I filled in all the lines with screen ink by hand with a paint brush. The black only took one layer, the white took 4! It was again very timely as I had to wait in between each layer for it to dry before I could start again. I also had a few issues with going out of the lines into the opposite color because some of them were so close together. After removing the butcher's paper I fixed up any of the "boo-boos" I had accidentally made. I proceeded to do the back the same way and then once both sides were dry I ironed them from the inside to set the ink.

In the photo below are only HALF of the hand cut butcher's paper strips after I took them off!

I sewed the sides of the dress up and tried it on with the scarf and belt. It was exciting! I had a visible costume starting to emerge! I immediately ran into the living room to show my partner Matt and dance around. We discussed how the belt looked with the dress under it, I was concerned about looking frumpy. I decided to take the dress in so it was less baggy on me and did this after pinning the appropriate reduction on the sides while wearing it. I also took some photos of myself in the mirror wearing these pieces. I NEVER do this. I felt kind of awkward about doing it because it is weird to see myself as only part of a character, like something is kind of unhinged. Below are photos of the original dress on the left and on the right after I reduced the sides to make it more form fitting.

After the sides were done, I turned the armholes in about 1/2", pinned them, and then sewed them down to finish them. I pressed the side seams open on the inside of the dress so it would hopefully lie more flat. Lastly, I cut a slit in the leg and stitched the edges after folding them in.

Construction: Toralei's Belt - TOTAL HOURS: (combined with others)

Web vs. Doll Differences noted:

-Cartoon version: Red eyelets, yellow belt. Buckle is silver with the MH logo in silver outline and pink bow.
-Doll version (upcoming release): Gold belt, gold eyelets. Buckle with MH logo entirely in silver.

I decided to do my belt based on the doll version. I knew it was going to be hard enough to find a belt with giant eyelets let alone have to figure out how to paint them red like in the cartoon version. I found a second belt with a silver buckle I could use with the other belt. I took them apart and then cut grooves into the eyelet belt so I could attach the buckle. Once I had confirmation they worked together, I proceeded to try to paint gold on the belt I was using. It did not work. It basically was so opaque on the leather belt that it just added a shimmer and nothing else. Problem solving time! I've never spray-painted anything for a costume or garment so this was new for me. I luckily had white acrylic spray-paint from a school project earlier in the year so I took that outside and sprayed the belt white it was on some newspaper. After letting it dry for a few hours I brought it inside the apartment (it was in the front entrance so I wouldn't get sick from the fumes). The white was flexible and didn't crack when I bent the belt! Success. I proceeded to paint the gold over the spraypainted areas and it took amazingly! I only did one layer of paint and it was done.

The next thing I did was make the MH skull and "studs" for the belt buckle. For that I used Sculpey which I used alot as a child but in the past (at least) 10 years I've only used it once! I wasn't sure how I needed to cook it so I looked that up online: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080705180952AAa4BjS . I hand sculpted them and then cooked them in the oven. After they cooled down I made sure there were no cracks and was happy to find they have stayed just how I wanted them. I then searched online to find out how to glue the Sculpey to metal and came up with this forum post: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=264101.0 . Based on what I read, I decided to use Gorilla Glue to adhere the two together. I used small amounts and clamped the pieces together overnight. I knew it expanded 3-4 times its original size while drying and in the morning found that unfortunately it had creeped out of the sides a bit but not enough to cause me big concern.

Toralei Stripe Fandom 11/30/2011

Here are some great fan creations I found today!

Toralei by Ask Toralei - http://goo.gl/hq8W1

MHMLP Crossover-Toralei by *Natsuki-ki-ki - http://goo.gl/FBZzG

What's Up Kitty-Catby by MHScreamQueen - http://goo.gl/Zk7OJ

Toralei and Jinx by Honey Head - http://goo.gl/BGGzU
.:Toralei Stripe:.by ~DRCortez02 - http://goo.gl/AvgF7
Toralei in tweed by crystalpix - http://goo.gl/t8Rlx

design toralei by Donovan Dead - http://goo.gl/Snw02

Adventure Time Werecats by Rei Rei - http://goo.gl/3aS1a

Exhausting Day

Today was the day I was hoping to finally pick up all the missing components needed for my Toralei cosplay which I figured was going to be exhausting.. But today started off with being on a TTC bus full of people that witnessed a woman getting hit by a van just as we drove past. She had run out in front of our bus while the light was red to try and reach the other side of the street and I guess didn't realize the van was coming until it was too late. The bus driver had seen everything so he needed to stay to be part of the investigation and give his statement but that meant everyone had to get out and stand on the corner right in front of the woman while the police and then EMS mobilized her and eventually took her away. It wasn't messy or anything but I knew things weren't right because she was much too quiet and they didn't roll her over for maybe 15 minutes. I read an article online a little bit ago saying she had "life-threatening injuries" and "serious head trauma" and nothing sounded overly positive. I hope she pulls out of it and can heal from this. 

Sigh. So that was the start of our day (my partner Matt was a star and joined me). Much of my searching was fruitless but in the end I was able to find arm and leg coverings that were vaguely similar to Toralei's color, a silver rectangular belt buckle that I'm pretty sure will work, and something totally AWESOME which is a kit for printing your own patterns and colors on hair extensions with an inkjet printer!! I've never even heard of anything like it but I'm excited to test it out so I can possibly print the tiger stripes on hair extensions for my wig instead of having to figure out how to color on a wig or something. I'm pretty excited with the possibilities of the technology!

The one thing I have failed to find and I'm totally frustrated about is any kind of quilted coat that I can modify. Nothing! I'm ready to give up. I was really hoping to not have to sew one from scratch because the time that will take AND the cost of the fabric is going to be very hard on me :( I'm feeling kind of bummed with the happenings of the day, being beyond exhausted and STILL not having everything I need. I'm burnt out. 

The Shoes Have ARRIVED!

Yay! I ordered these a few weeks ago and they got delivered last week! These are exactly what I needed for my Toralei cosplay. Shoes are one aspect of a cosplay that I can't make from scratch and that usually leaves me with two options. 1. Meticulously search for a fairly inexpensive option that can be modified by me (and that won't break my feet). 2. Make spats or shoe coverings. 

Option 1 was the only one for this project. The thing about Monster High that makes the characters even more awesome is that they have GLORIOUS PLATFORM SHOES!! This means the stacked platform was non-negotiable :) Below are images of Toralei's shoes, the first is a screencap from one of the cartoon episodes, the second is a photo of the shoes on the doll (still unofficially released in North America). They look nearly the same to me aside from the cartoon version having silver studs along the platform top and red studs along the doll version.

After much searching I finally found shoes online that were as close and I think I was going to find and ordered them. I did take photos of these myself but they are too dark to show the shoe detailing so these are the images from the website I bought them from:

Although the laces don't go all the way down the front of the shoe, I think these are a great real-life version that will work with some modifications. I'll be tracking my progress while I work on these and have photos to post once I have some to show! I plan on  painting over the satin fabric on the platform or I may even be able to remove the fabric and just paint the base. Then it is really just a case of finding something for the studs (or making them out of something like fimo) and adhering them so they are secure. Because the topline of my bootie is lower than on Toralei, I think I am going to make an anklet for the studs on top that sits separate from the shoe. I'll know better once I start experimenting.

Toralei Stripe Fandom continued!

The Toralei Stripe doll has been popping up around the USA the past few weeks and with that I have been seeing even more Toralei inspired fandom in the interwebs :) Here are some of what I've found this week! The first image is actually a "Toralei OC" or "Original Creation" which involves stripping things like the original face paint job and repainting. I think it looks AMAZING! 

Toralei OC by armeleia - http://goo.gl/po1Nm

Jinx and Toralei by N1mh - http://goo.gl/7JKU6

Monster High-Toralei Purrrfect by RavenNoodle - http://goo.gl/ySqlK

"The Party Crashers" by Pepperzzzz - http://goo.gl/i0VZy
Toralei Fan Art by reac3 - http://goo.gl/i0VZy

I posted earlier about a great custom Toralei by dmsajem. Here is an update she did, photographing her custom with the newly available doll!
Toralei vs. Toralei by dmsajem - http://goo.gl/SX4vy